Java Backend Engineer Training Program
From zero to job-ready in 6–9 months. Build production-style systems with modern Java, Spring Boot 4, Kafka, Kubernetes and the cloud — plus the AI skills employers now list on Java job ads.
What Java backend employers are asking for right now
We reviewed recent Java backend job ads in Lagos, Europe, the UK, India and remote-first companies. The core is still Java + Spring Boot + SQL, but the bar has moved: Kubernetes, Kafka, observability, modern Java versions and AI tooling now appear routinely. Items marked New were added to this curriculum in the 2026 update.
Event-driven, cloud-native stacks
Nigerian lenders and payment companies hiring Java developers describe stacks built on Spring Boot, Kafka and Kubernetes on AWS, monitored with Grafana and Prometheus. Senior roles add multithreading and JVM tuning.
Microservices on Kubernetes / OpenShift
Enterprise roles ask for Spring Cloud, Spring Security, relational and NoSQL design, Docker plus Kubernetes or OpenShift, Helm charts, and in some teams reactive programming with WebFlux and R2DBC.
Modern Java, production ownership & AI
Postings increasingly specify Java 21+, gRPC, JVM profiling and heap analysis, Terraform, and hands-on use of AI coding assistants. Some roles integrate LLMs into Spring applications or connect APIs to AI agents.
!Why the 2026 update matters
Spring Boot 3.x reached end of open-source support in mid-2026, and new projects now start on Spring Boot 4 (Spring Framework 7, Jakarta EE 11) with Java 21 or 25 LTS. Learning on outdated versions costs you in interviews. Every module in this programme uses the current stack, while still teaching you to read and maintain the Java 8/11/17 code you’ll find in many existing enterprise systems.
Three phases, two job-ready milestones
Each phase ends with a portfolio checkpoint reviewed by a mentor. You can stop after Phase 2 and apply for junior roles, or continue to Phase 3 for intermediate-level positions.
Foundations
Modern Java, concurrency and the JVM, SQL and NoSQL databases, and your first Spring Boot 4 services.
Professional backend
API design, security, testing, Git, Docker, CI/CD and AI-assisted engineering. Ends with your junior portfolio and interview prep.
Enterprise & cloud-native
Microservices, Kafka, Kubernetes, AWS, observability, reactive Java and Spring AI — delivered through one capstone system.
JJunior Java Backend Engineer
Targets roles asking for 0–2 years’ experience. Ready after month 6.
IIntermediate Java Backend Engineer
Targets roles asking for 2–4 years’ experience. Ready after month 9. Our project-based approach helps you evidence equivalent experience in interviews.
Junior Java Backend Engineer Track
For graduates and career-changers with no prior IT experience. Tap a module to see topics and projects.
1Modern Java & OOP FoundationsJava 21/25, clean code, build tools and the command line4 weeks
You’ll learn
- Syntax, types, control flow, methods and OOP principles (SOLID)
- Collections, generics, Streams API and lambdas
- Modern Java: records, sealed classes, pattern matching for
switch, text blocks - Exceptions, immutability and clean-code habits
- Maven and Gradle, IntelliJ IDEA, Linux command line basics
- Reading legacy Java 8/11/17 code and migrating it forward
Projects
- Wallet & transfers simulator (accounts, transfers, statements)
- Library management CLI (loans, fines, reports)
- Payroll calculator with PAYE-style tax rules
- Retail inventory manager with reorder alerts
2Concurrency & the JVMMultithreading, virtual threads and how Java really runs2 weeks
You’ll learn
- Threads,
ExecutorService,CompletableFuture - Virtual threads (Project Loom) and structured concurrency concepts
- Race conditions, locks, atomics and concurrent collections
- JVM memory model, heap vs stack, garbage collection basics
Projects
- Parallel transaction-file processor
- Rate-limited API caller using virtual threads
- Find-and-fix lab: deadlocks and race conditions
3Databases: SQL & NoSQLRelational design, performance and the right store for the job3 weeks
You’ll learn
- Normalisation, joins, transactions, isolation levels and locking
- Indexing and reading query plans in PostgreSQL and MySQL
- Schema migrations with Flyway or Liquibase
- JDBC fundamentals before moving to JPA
- Redis for caching and MongoDB for document data
Projects
- E-commerce relational schema with sample dataset
- Double-entry ledger schema for a payments app
- Hospital management DB (patients, visits, billing)
- Query-tuning lab: from slow query to indexed query
4Spring Boot 4 FundamentalsSpring Framework 7, layered architecture and data access4 weeks
You’ll learn
- Dependency injection, IoC and auto-configuration
- Spring MVC controllers, validation and global error handling
- Spring Data JPA and Hibernate: mappings, fetching, avoiding N+1
- Configuration, profiles and secrets handling
- Spring Boot Actuator health checks and metrics
- What changed from Spring Boot 3 to 4, and how to upgrade
Projects
- Task manager REST API (CRUD, validation)
- Blog API with pagination and sorting
- Product catalogue API with search and filters
- Spring Boot 3 → 4 upgrade exercise
5API Design & IntegrationREST done properly, plus GraphQL and gRPC3 weeks
You’ll learn
- Resource design, HTTP semantics and status codes
- OpenAPI/Swagger documentation and API versioning
- Standard error responses (Problem Details), pagination, idempotency keys
- Consuming third-party APIs: timeouts, retries, circuit breakers
- Introduction to GraphQL and gRPC — and when to use each
Projects
- Payment gateway integration (sandbox) with webhooks
- Weather or FX-rate service consuming external APIs
- News aggregator from multiple sources
- gRPC service for internal account lookups
6Security EssentialsSpring Security, authentication and secure coding2 weeks
You’ll learn
- Spring Security filter chain and configuration
- JWT access and refresh tokens, OAuth2 / OpenID Connect login
- Role-based access control and method security
- OWASP Top 10 and how they show up in Java APIs
- Password hashing, secrets management, dependency scanning
Projects
- Secure API with JWT and refresh tokens
- Google/GitHub login via OAuth2 / Keycloak
- Role-based admin vs customer endpoints
7Testing & Code QualityConfidence to ship and to refactor2 weeks
You’ll learn
- Unit testing with JUnit 5 and Mockito; test-driven development
- Integration tests with Testcontainers (real Postgres, Kafka, Redis)
- API tests with MockMvc and REST Assured
- Coverage with JaCoCo and static analysis with SonarQube
- Code review etiquette and pull-request standards
Projects
- Full test suite for the wallet application
- TDD kata: tax and fee engine
- Integration tests for the e-commerce API
8Git, Docker & CI/CDTeam workflows and automated delivery2 weeks
You’ll learn
- Git branching, pull requests, rebasing and branch-protection rules
- Multi-stage Docker images for Spring Boot; Docker Compose
- CI/CD with GitHub Actions (build, test, scan, publish image)
- Overview of Jenkins and Azure DevOps pipelines used in enterprises
- Deploying a container to a cloud host
Projects
- Team workflow with peer PR reviews
- Dockerised Spring Boot + Postgres stack
- GitHub Actions pipeline with quality gates
9AI-Assisted Engineering & Junior PortfolioUse AI tools responsibly, then package your work for hiring2 weeks
You’ll learn
- Daily workflows with AI coding assistants (GitHub Copilot, Claude Code, Cursor and similar)
- Reviewing AI-generated code for bugs, security issues and licence risk
- Using AI to write tests, docs and refactors — without losing understanding
- CV, GitHub profile and LinkedIn optimisation for Java roles
- Junior interview prep: core Java, Spring, SQL and live coding
Deliverables
- Polished junior portfolio (4–5 projects) with READMEs
- Mock technical interview with feedback
- Tailored CV and application plan
Intermediate Java Backend Engineer Track
Enterprise and cloud-native skills for roles asking for 2–4 years’ experience. Each module adds a layer to your capstone system.
10Microservices & Distributed SystemsDesigning services that scale and fail gracefully2 weeks
You’ll learn
- Domain-driven design and service boundaries
- Spring Cloud Gateway, centralised config and service discovery
- Resilience patterns: retries, timeouts, bulkheads, circuit breakers
- Data consistency across services; distributed transactions
Projects
- E-commerce services: User, Product, Order, Payment
- Banking services: Account, Transaction, Notification
11Event-Driven Architecture with KafkaThe backbone of modern fintech platforms2 weeks
You’ll learn
- Apache Kafka: topics, partitions, consumer groups, ordering
- Spring for Apache Kafka; RabbitMQ / AMQP for comparison
- Transactional outbox, sagas and idempotent consumers
- Dead-letter topics, retries and schema evolution
Projects
- Event-driven order and payment processing
- Real-time transaction notifications
- Audit-logging pipeline
12Kubernetes, Helm & Cloud on AWSRun your services the way employers do2 weeks
You’ll learn
- Kubernetes objects: Pods, Deployments, Services, Ingress, ConfigMaps, Secrets
- Probes, resource limits and autoscaling for JVM workloads
- Helm charts and local clusters with kind or Minikube
- AWS essentials: IAM, VPC, RDS, S3, EKS; overview of AKS, GKE and OpenShift
- Infrastructure as Code with Terraform; GitOps with Argo CD
Projects
- Helm chart for your microservices
- Deploy the capstone to a managed Kubernetes cluster
- Terraform module for database and storage
13Observability, Performance & Production SupportFind and fix problems before customers do2 weeks
You’ll learn
- Distributed tracing with OpenTelemetry; metrics with Micrometer
- Prometheus and Grafana dashboards; structured logging
- JVM profiling and heap analysis (JFR, heap dumps, memory leaks)
- Caching strategies with Redis; database tuning under load
- Load testing with k6 or JMeter; SLOs, alerts and incident response
Projects
- End-to-end tracing across your services
- Grafana dashboard with alert rules
- Memory-leak hunt and latency-reduction lab
14Reactive & High-Throughput JavaNon-blocking services and when they’re worth it1 week
You’ll learn
- Spring WebFlux and Project Reactor basics
- Reactive database access with R2DBC
- Reactive vs virtual threads: choosing the right model
Projects
- Non-blocking rates/quotes streaming endpoint
- Benchmark: MVC + virtual threads vs WebFlux
15AI Integration with Spring AIAdding LLM features to Java backends1 week
You’ll learn
- Spring AI ChatClient with hosted and open-source models
- Retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) with pgvector
- Tool calling and exposing services via MCP (Model Context Protocol)
- Guardrails, evaluation, cost and latency control
Projects
- Customer-support assistant grounded in your API docs
- Transaction-query agent that calls your services as tools
16Capstone, System Design & Interview PrepShip it, explain it, get hired2 weeks
Capstone options
- Digital wallet & payments platform — ledger, transfers, webhooks, fraud flags
- Loan origination system — applications, scoring, repayment schedules, notifications
- Marketplace backend — orders, payments, inventory holds, events
- Ride-hailing / logistics backend — matching, pricing, real-time tracking
Deliverables
- Live deployment on Kubernetes with CI/CD
- GitHub repo with tests, ADRs, runbook and architecture diagrams
- Observability dashboard and load-test report
- System-design interview practice and STAR stories
- Two mock interviews: technical and behavioural
What you’ll be able to show and talk about
- 8+ real projects including a deployed capstone, with business context and measured results
- Current stack: Java 21/25, Spring Boot 4, JPA, PostgreSQL, Redis, Kafka
- Cloud-native delivery: Docker, Kubernetes, Helm, Terraform, GitHub Actions, AWS
- Quality: TDD, Testcontainers integration tests, coverage reports, code reviews
- Architecture: microservices, event-driven design, caching, resilience patterns
- Production skills: OpenTelemetry tracing, Grafana dashboards, JVM profiling, incident response
- Security: Spring Security, JWT, OAuth2/OIDC, RBAC, OWASP mitigations
- AI-ready: Spring AI integration and responsible use of AI coding assistants
How the curriculum maps to job-ad requirements
| Common requirement in 2026 job ads | Where you learn it |
|---|---|
| Java 8/11/17/21+, OOP, collections, multithreading | Modules 1 & 2 |
| Spring Boot, Spring MVC, Spring Data JPA, Hibernate | Module 4 |
| RESTful APIs, OpenAPI, GraphQL, gRPC | Module 5 |
| Relational (PostgreSQL, MySQL, Oracle concepts) and NoSQL | Module 3 |
| Spring Security, JWT, OAuth2 | Module 6 |
| JUnit, TDD, code reviews, CI/CD (GitHub Actions, Jenkins) | Modules 7 & 8 |
| Microservices, Spring Cloud | Module 10 |
| Kafka, RabbitMQ, event-driven architecture | Module 11 |
| Docker, Kubernetes / OpenShift, Helm, AWS EKS, Terraform | Modules 8 & 12 |
| JVM profiling, heap analysis, performance tuning, Grafana / Prometheus | Module 13 |
| Reactive programming (WebFlux, R2DBC) | Module 14 |
| LLM integration, AI agents, AI-assisted development tools | Modules 9 & 15 |
Aligned with the certifications employers recognise
You receive an ITLearning certificate of completion for each track. The curriculum also prepares you for these optional external exams (exam fees are paid directly to the provider):
1Oracle Certified Professional: Java SE Developer
Validates core and modern Java. Covered by Modules 1–2.
2Certified Kubernetes Application Developer (CKAD)
Requested by name in some Java backend postings. Covered by Module 12.
3AWS Certified Developer – Associate
Cloud credibility for backend roles. Covered by Modules 8, 12 and 13.
Programme format & support
⏱Flexible, part-time
Plan for 10–15 hours a week: live sessions, self-paced labs and project work. Designed to fit around a job or studies.
👥Mentored cohort
Weekly mentor sessions, code reviews on every project, and a peer community for pair programming and team projects.
💼Career support
CV and LinkedIn reviews, mock interviews, application strategy and referrals where available — for roles in Nigeria and remote/international.
Who it’s for
- Graduates (any discipline) starting a tech career
- Career-changers moving into software engineering
- Developers from other languages moving into Java
- Junior Java developers aiming for intermediate roles (start at Phase 3)
What you need
- A laptop with at least 8 GB RAM (16 GB recommended for Docker & Kubernetes labs)
- Reliable internet connection
- Basic computer literacy — no prior coding required
- Commitment to the weekly schedule and project deadlines
Frequently asked questions
Do I need prior coding experience?
No. The Junior track starts from fundamentals and builds quickly through hands-on projects. If you already code in Java, we can assess you and place you directly into a later module or Phase 3.
Why Java 21/25 and Spring Boot 4 when many job ads still mention Java 8 or 11?
New projects now start on the current versions, and Spring Boot 3.x is out of open-source support. Employers with older systems still value engineers who know modern Java and can help them upgrade. We teach the current stack and show you how to read and migrate legacy Java 8/11/17 code.
Is AI going to replace Java backend engineers?
Job postings in 2026 show the opposite trend: employers want engineers who use AI coding tools well and can build AI features into existing Java systems. This programme teaches both, while making sure you understand the code you ship.
What portfolio will I have at the end?
At least 8 production-style projects, including a capstone deployed on Kubernetes with CI/CD, tests, observability, documentation (ADRs, runbook, diagrams) and a live demo.
Can I stop after 6 months?
Yes. Phases 1–2 are designed to make you ready for junior roles. You can continue to Phase 3 later, whether or not you’ve already started working.
How is this aligned to real job postings?
We reviewed recent Java backend job ads from Nigerian fintechs, banks, global consultancies and remote product companies, and mapped each common requirement to a module (see the table above). We review the curriculum against new postings every cohort.
Is the programme online?
Yes, live sessions and mentoring run online so you can join from anywhere. Contact us about any in-person or hybrid options for your cohort.
How much does it cost and when does the next cohort start?
Fees, payment plans and cohort dates are shared on request. Message us on WhatsApp or email and we’ll send the current details.
Join the next Java Backend Engineer cohort
Build the portfolio hiring managers want to see — on the stack they’re hiring for today.
Curriculum reviewed October 2026 against current Java backend job postings. Technologies and tools may be updated between cohorts to reflect employer demand. Back to top ↑